A painting by the French master Paul Cézanne, not seen in public for more than 60 years, has been rediscovered in Italy. Francesca Bardazzi, the co-curator of a forthcoming exhibition in Florence, came across the early work in a private collection.

"It was probably done between 1860 and 1870 when Cézanne used to go to the Louvre to copy the masterpieces of the past," said Ms Bardazzi.

His canvas, measuring only 29cm by 61cm (about 1ft by 2ft), is a reproduction of Veronese's Meal at the House of Simon the Pharisee. But already there are hints of the distinctive brushwork of a painter who would go on to be revered as the father of modern art.

Cézanne lived in Paris from 1861 to 1870, when he was forced to flee by the Franco-Prussian war. His paintings of that time belong to his "dark period", and the work found in Italy is typical in its use of sombre colours.

It was last seen in public in 1945 at an exhibition staged in Florence by the American art historian Bernard Berenson. But there was no reproduction of the painting in the catalogue and all trace of it was lost.

The link between Cézanne and Florence - the theme of the forthcoming show - stems from the fact that two of the earliest collectors of the artist's work, Egisto Fabbri and Charles Loeser, lived in the city. Between them, the two Americans bought almost 50 of Cézanne's works. Both their collections were broken up in the years between the two world wars.

The exhibition, which opens at Palazzo Strozzi on March 2, brings together paintings that now hang in the White House and in collections scattered from St Petersburg to New York.